Sherdog’s Top 10: Greatest Fighters of the 2000s

1. Fedor Emelianenko

“The Last Emperor” tops his third Sherdog top 10 list, adding another first-place finish to his accolades as the greatest fighter in Pride Fighting Championships history and MMA’s greatest heavyweight ever. His prime is perfectly encapsulated in the first decade of the new millennium, and not surprisingly, he was a unanimous choice for the top spot among Sherdog voters. Emelianenko had his first pro fight in August 2000 and didn't have his first real defeat until June 2010, which is beyond the scope of this list. For the decade in question, Emelianenko was essentially undefeated in 33 fights. His loss to Tsuyoshi Kosaka in Rings was due to an illegal elbow in the opening seconds that opened a huge cut, but they needed to crown a champion, so Kosaka was given the victory. (There were a lot of shady results in that organization; just watch Randy Couture vs. Mikhail Ilyukhin.)

Emelianenko’s time as heavyweight king lasted for an amazing seven years and 19 straight victories after first triumphing over Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at Pride in early 2003. There were plenty of weak touches during that time, like Wagner “Zuluzinho” da Conceicao Martins and Yuji Nagata in Pride, or Hong Man Choi after Pride’s dissolution, but he also dominated the trilogy against Nogueira, finished four former UFC heavyweight champions in the first round—Andrei Arlovski, Tim Sylvia, Kevin Randleman and Mark Coleman twice—and won the “Fight of the Century” against Mirko Filipovic. How did he manage to stave off defeat for so long? It wasn't always easy, but in addition to lightning hand and foot speed for a heavyweight, enormous punching power, a great judo and sambo-based grappling and submission game, Fedor's incredible cardio, heart, and intelligence combined with his then very tough chin and good recuperative powers allowed him to avoid many perilous situations, whether against Kazuyuki Fujita or Mark Hunt.